Immediate: The Best Kind of Results!

David, Lanita and John Wesley - good times!

Ask and ye shall receive! Thanks, David for the very quick response. Hey yall, that reminds me of a Blue Lake Song! Anybody remember "Seek and Ye Shall Find"? That song will definitely be running through my mind today.
Merry

Three Tiny Pictures

My hard drive crashed a while back, and I was sick at all the good things I lost, including a number of Blue Lake people shots and all the little video clips John West so creatively put together. David was able to replace some of what I'd lost, but not all of it. Imagine my excitement last night to run across an email I had sent to Caroline Cumbee Picking, with the missing photos attached! But, there is a bit of a problem..... These nice photos of David, Lanita and John Wesley, along with other I had attached to the email for Caroline, cannot be made any bigger without major pixilation. It seems that between the time that I sent the message to Caroline and last night, Yahoo Pictures has become obsolete. And when I tried to enlarge the pictures all I got was a message saying such. So, dear staff alumni, do any of you have copies of these three pictures that you would be so kind as to post on this blog? Or to send to me or John or David to post? We are all three listed as authors. Thanks in advance! Merry

Beefcake, anyone?

As a nod to David's list of Summer of 66 Blue Lake Staff, here are pictures of some of those handsome guys! Enjoy.....

Rick Wood and Johnny West

Rick again, and David Alsobrook

Rick again, and from the looks of the swim trunks, I would guess it's David.

One last shot of Johnny and Rick

A Few Names from 1966

Here are some of permanent staff who worked at Blue Lake in 1966:

Lifeguards/KPs:

John West--Andalusia, AL; longtime resident of Tampa, FL, where he is a radiologist.

Arthur Howington--Birmingham (?)

Ronald Wyatt--Straughn, AL

Michael Murphy--Andalusia, AL

Counselors/Staff:

Pat Graybill, Warrington, FL

Melanie Wood, Chipley, FL

Elaine Stuart, Andalusia, AL

Gloria Wilson, Evergreen, AL

Maria Vargas, Santiago, Chile (International Methodist Student)

David Alsobrook, Mobile, AL

Will add further commentary about our group in later posts. Also, for some reason, I seem to recall that Margaret Till (aka "Tilley") from Luverne was there in '66 as well, but I may be mixing up my summers.

David Alsobrook

Great Pics!

Wonderful shots of Blue Lake that bring back lots of memories for me! For whatever reason, I always enjoyed the meals at Dogwood more than at Pinewood--grits & scrambled eggs, a deep-dish baked spaghetti thing, waldorf salad, homemade rolls, etc. When I was a counselor at Dogwood, somebody nicknamed me "GD" for garbage disposal, because I usually ate everything on the table, including any leftovers that the campers didn't want. There was a downstairs rec room that the lifeguards used for lifting weights--Johnny West, Arthur Howington, et al. I also thought that Dogwood's natural beauty surpassed Pinewood's. In '66, I think, there was a small alligator that sunned himself on the dock in the swimming area but always disappeared when the kids showed up to swim. I remember we later found his mummified remains along the shore at the end of the summer. We adopted two stray dogs that summer--"Slash" and "Shag." They probably stayed at Blue Lake until they went to doggie heaven. I think that was Rev. Carmichael's first year at Blue Lake, but he and Mrs. Carmichael, Keitha, and Asher treated us all like members of their own family. I think I can speak for all of us that we in turn loved them like they were our family.

David Alsobrook
One of Syd's Kids,
Blue Lake '66 & '68

More Pictures

G-4 at Pinewood, summer home of Lanita, Caroline, Jo and Merry in 1968. Check out the window AirConditioner!

Campfire Ring at Pinewood

Plaque for the Upper Room at Pinewood.

The new and improved cabins at Dogwood. Discuss among yourselves...

I can't quite remember the exact location of this picture. Anyone?

An Explanation

I just spoke with Jo and she reminded me that Syd's name is spelled with a "y" not an "i" as I have it in the URL for this blog. I had to come up with a web address for our blog, and when I submitted "sydskids" it was rejected, as was "halcyondays" and "thosehalcyondays" and even "sidskids." Go figure. Anyway, so I changed the spelling a little and that's how we got "sidskidsbluelake."

So. More pictures, anyone? Enjoy!

Dogwood Staff Room

Dogwood Campfire Ring (I think!)
Dogwood back porch
Dogwood Dining Hall
Pinewood Kitchen - Smell that spaghetti?

Sorry there aren't lots of pictures of Pinewood, but I got chased off from some Emmaus Walk goons (oops! I meant to say participants!) They were quite firm about my not invading their secret meetings..... So I beat it out of there. I do have some good shots of the pinewood cabin we girls used in 1968. Those were the days, my friend.... more tomorrow.

Lots of Pictures, Lots of Memories

How do I begin this blog? And am I really the one qualified to do this? Probably not, except that I happen to have a whole slew of pictures of Blue Lake - - - those yall have been so kind to send me for the scrapbook, which still is not done, and also pictures that I took last November when Jo and I went to Blue Lake for Dauphin Way Family Camp. That was lots of fun, but also brought back such sweet and tender memories of all of yall..... So, here is a blog for you. A commemoration of sorts, considering that this summer will be 40 year!!! since we were all together at Blue Lake. Sid and us and lots of good eats and good times. We've all changed a lot since those days, but our friendships remain strong. I love you all so much, and the memories I hold dear to my heart. I hope we can share them together! I am in Mobile til the end of May, at which time I will drive back to Utah with my daughter Annie and her three girls. Will be back in Mobile late July for a bit, then flying back to Utah. Hope to contact Jo and David soon, and if any of the rest of yall are in this area, maybe we could get together. But even if not, please take a moment to enjoy the pictures, video, etc, and share some of your own memories. If any of you are willing to help with this blog, I can list you as an author, I think, and then you can add (or subtract) as you see fit. So here we go, with some pictures. Love yall!

Correct me if I'm wrong, Jo, but I believe these first three are at Dogwood. Remember the craft hut, yall? That is now the staff cabin, complete with washer and dryer! That's it with the red door.

I'm sorry to just put up these three pictures right now, but I am at my Mom's and her computer and internet are s-o-o-o-o slow! Let me hear from yall!

One more thing.... The songs in the playlist so far, are ones that reminded me of some of yall. Tell me what other ones to upload onto the blog. I haven't figured out how to upload songs from my hard drive, so if you know of a way, let me know, because I have lots of songs that would be great on this blog. Jo, Project Playlist doesn't any version of the "Today" that we know and love......

Remembrance of Blue Lake

Hey, Sid's Kids! Pause the playlist at the bottom of the page before playing this awesome video remembrance of some of those halcyon days of yore. Enjoy!